Subscribe via:
Show Summary
In this engaging conversation, Quentin and Steve Wright explore the essential elements of building trust in business relationships, emphasizing authenticity, empathy, and knowledge. They discuss the importance of navigating life’s challenges with resilience, the innovative flooring solutions available for investors, and the significance of treating people well in all interactions. Steven shares valuable insights and advice for both personal and professional growth, making this a rich discussion for anyone looking to enhance their business acumen.
Resources and Links from this show:
-
-
- Investor Fuel Real Estate Mastermind
- Investor Machine Real Estate Lead Generation
- Mike on Facebook
- Mike on Instagram
- Mike on LinkedIn
- Steve Wright’s Phone Number: (972) 742-0740
Listen to the Audio Version of this Episode
Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
STEVEN WRIGHT (00:00)
I’ll give you one more nugget. I haven’t given the investors a nugget yet. So, ⁓ or property managers. So these days there’s new products. Vinyl plank, you heard waterproof. Then they had laminate, right? But now they have laminate that looks just like wood. It’s waterproof. Get a key, can’t even scratch it. And you can actually draw with a permanent marker.Quentin (00:02)
Yes, sir.STEVEN WRIGHT (00:25)
put acetone on it, wipe it off, put it on fire. You still can’t tell that it’s been damaged. So rental properties, people love it. It’s called Revwood from Mohawk and it’s US made and we buy so much of it. It’s like, you know, we really treat people fair with it.Quentin (02:15)
Hello everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and so excited to be with you today. We have a guest that’s lined up, he’s ready to go. And listen, he is the vice president of a flooring company. And so y’all know how we do. We bring you different people from all spectrums when it comes to this real estate. And so I am so excited for this gentleman to take you into his world, you to peek through his lens. So I’d like to introduce you to…Mr. Steve Wright, how you doing today, sir?
STEVEN WRIGHT (02:47)
Hello, I’m doing fabulous. How are y’all? I’m so thankful that y’all could join y’all today. And this is my first podcast, so I guess you could call me a rookie, but that’s okay. But I’ve been in flooring for over 40 years. I don’t look that old, but ⁓ yeah. Thank you.Quentin (03:03)
I love it. No, man, listen, like you said, you made me a rookie. Just listen, just to the platform podcast, but I know you’re not a rookie to just communicating. I know you said you had some background in radio. so, man, this is going to be great. And the whole point here is for you to just let us in into your experience, right? You’re the expert here today. You know what you’re doing. We would like to know what it is that you’re doing. And so,STEVEN WRIGHT (03:05)
Yeah.Quentin (03:31)
I’m excited. know this is going to be fun. know you have a ton of value that you’re going to be able to give our audience. And so Mrs. Steve, I kind of just want to dive in. I want you to tell people about what it is that you do, what your main focus is these days. Maybe tell them a little bit about how you got started, your journey, and then also what market you’re operating in,STEVEN WRIGHT (03:51)
Okay, perfect. ⁓ We’re Flooring Direct and we’re in North Texas, all Dallas-Fort Worth area. we do basically our biggest thing is remodel, actually existing homes. So we do a little bit of new homes too, but we cater to the consumer that needs new floors and we make it easy for them. We have…tied into a lot of realtors as well because looking at the piece of the business there, a lot of people were not getting it. So we developed a real estate program about three years ago and I can talk to that in detail. But ⁓ we have a jingle, our pros are the nicest, we have the best prices, floor and direct. You may have heard us on radio and TV as well or social media or seen me on social media. ⁓ yeah, we make it easy for you. You have 20 reps all in Dallas, Fort Worth and
about 25, 30 install crews. And we have amazing financing options, like 36 months, no interest. And really looking at scaling the business and possibly growing to other markets. So that’s where we’re in the stage. I’ve been here seven years. We’ve grown about 400%. And we’re having
Quentin (04:56)
I loveSTEVEN WRIGHT (05:53)
⁓Quentin (05:56)
I love it, man. I love it. So Mr. Steve, why flooring? All the things in the world that you could do, where was the intersection? I mean, if you want to share now, you know, I’m the host. I’m trying to just, yeah, but yeah, I would love to know, what sparked the flooring business for you,STEVEN WRIGHT (06:01)
⁓ yeah. No, you’re good. You’re good.Yeah, well, I warned you in Florida. say once you get in Florida, you never get out. So I believe it after 40 years. But great question. Actually, as I was going to college, I saw a post up there for a job. I didn’t even know who the company was. It was Dow Tile. And went to work there as I was going to college full time, worked there nights for $5 an hour. That was back in 83. Hanging tapes and all that. They were a very small company. And I left.
30 years later and they were pretty well being dollar company part of Mohawk who’s the largest flooring company who had bottled. So ⁓ had a great journey. My background was technology. ⁓ But as I got into the business, they actually sent me to MIT. I learned some e-commerce, that side of it and to help birth that side. And then after I kind of retired at 50, I started doing sales. That’s how I ended up over here on my second journey now.
Quentin (07:08)
I love it, man. So I know you said, if I recall, you said you’ve been there for seven years. Did I recall that correct? Seven years and you guys are looking to scale so things are moving. You guys are growing. So I guess my question is not always easy in this climate. I know you guys are growing, but some people hit snacks. What’s been the key for that machine running smoothly? Like how can y’all keep your process kind of running as smooth as possible?STEVEN WRIGHT (07:14)
Yes, Lauren Drake, seven years.Yeah, well, I’ll tell you what, just from my experience for the big billion dollar company, Mohawk Dow Tile had great mentors. So ⁓ things like SWATs, ⁓ you know, you have strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. So I always look at what’s my weaknesses. I want to make them into strengths. But there’s a thing called law of accumulation. A lot of people haven’t heard of it. And what that is,
incremental improvements add up and you get excellent. So we’ve done constant improvements of a lot of things, you know, from products. And then I’m a big Prado fan, 80-20 rule, if you heard of that. So 20 % of your products make 80 % of your sales. So my sales team, had to say, I could look at the supplier side, cause I know that side as well. If I’m not what the hot products are and then leverage and get better pricing.
And ⁓ it’s been very, very successful in that regard. So we’ve done that and just small improvements, you wouldn’t believe. So we were doing, I don’t know, $350,000 a month when I started and now we’re doing a million, million and a half a month. A lot more profit and ⁓ growing.
Quentin (08:50)
Absolutely. So, Mr. Steve, I see it, man. I see your influence, even just how you talk the journey from going to BoHop to where you are now. It seems like when you get there, something gets better. And if you’re going to leave it, you’re leave it better than when you came there. And so I hear it, man. I hear your influence on what you do. And so you’ve been in multiple companies. I know you can relate to the question I’m about to ask you. Things always don’t go as planned, right? Like sometimes we focus on a success, but not the journey.STEVEN WRIGHT (09:03)
Yeah.Thank you.
Quentin (09:19)
And so there are moments when things get real. There are moments when deals go sideways, when you have to pivot fast within your, within your experience and what you do. Have you come across moments like that where you had to pivot fast?STEVEN WRIGHT (09:35)
Sure, in our business, mean, being able to do free in-home estimates, you don’t generate leads, you don’t, you know, you don’t, that’s your, that’s your cashflow, that’s your business. So as the economy had turned down the last two years from the building side, the remodeling had to really look at how do we keep this growth going or sustain it. So that was a huge challenge. So that’s why I looked into the real estate businessand LinkedIn with realtors, investors.
I’ve got a model where actually home investors, I don’t know if you’re familiar with them, we Boggly Homes, we got the big K-Man on the thing, linked up with them and set a model up for some flippers, rehab, and made it easier for them. That’s what they love, something that’s dependable. so really growing the business, offering more finance deals, because these days people need financing or cash discounts.
So for my sales team, we really had to give them closing tools, things to get a solution. That’s where our pay it close come about because I think we have about 10 of them going right now. It’s pretty big. And they can sell the house for, you know, invest about $10,000 and sell it for over $20,000 more and quicker. It’s been very successful. So the other challenges is ⁓ really the, you know,
keeping the growth going and inflation. So I think everybody, and if you look a lot of flooring companies, they’ve been struggling. So I think that’s been the biggest challenge. But the whole thing is, when we come out of this, we’re gonna be so strong, better.
Quentin (11:53)
Yeah. No, I love that perspective, man. I love that outlook. You know, being a vice president here at Florin Direct, what is the next real goal for you, for you within the business?STEVEN WRIGHT (12:07)
really scalability, repeatability. And so once we hit a certain mark here, we think we’re ready, we’ll open up other markets and grow. in that, mean, getting the right people, the right salespeople, ⁓ teaching them. I’m a big Tom Hopkins fan. Actually, check it out.A lot of people have to deal with homes. So what do you do when buyers say no? Tom Hopkins, actually, probably a lot of the audience knows about him. He actually just passed away a while back, but he sold ⁓ roughly 365 homes in one year in California. It’s about one a day, right? So he has a lot of nuggets here when buyers say no, in what words to say, how to do it, in the…
Quentin (12:35)
Let’s go.No.
Yeah.
STEVEN WRIGHT (13:00)
I would encourage the audience if you want to have an audio too. So that’s helped my sales team a lot. And actually I’ve spoke with other like epoxy flooring companies that have sales teams and help them in that regard.Quentin (13:14)
Absolutely. No, I love it. Scaling into the next markets, that’s a big move. And for everything you’re telling me, it’s something like you guys are ready to do it, ready to hit the ground running. And so I love what I’m hearing. And so Mr. Steve, let me ask you this, because I know through your years of experience, I know you know people matter. You talk about building a sales team, having the right salespeople in place. And so I kind of want to talk about relationships a little bit. What’s your viewpoint onSTEVEN WRIGHT (13:41)
Mm-hmm.Quentin (13:43)
on relationships, like when it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what’s made the biggest difference for you?STEVEN WRIGHT (13:52)
Talk about a supplier or consumer.Quentin (13:55)
I wantto talk about relationships all across the board. I want to about your relationship, like you said, with the buyer, with the consumer, even with your sales department, I know you’re taking on reading books and I’m sure you got mentors. So just want to talk about relationships within your business in general. How has that impacted you?
STEVEN WRIGHT (14:11)
You got it.Yeah, you got it. I don’t know if anyone’s read the book, The Twelve Dysfunctions of a Teen by Lencioni. Trust is the foundation. in sales, people buy from people they like and they trust. And then of that goes along on the flip side with the supplier side. And I always start top down. try to, like with Judge Fight, met
Quentin (14:20)
Ooh, no sir.STEVEN WRIGHT (14:40)
the origin of that company and found out how it was founded and met the owners. And then we could actually support and be part of that team. So I think it’s important. A lot of people don’t understand trust. There’s three things to trust. And in flooring, like I said, people don’t buy, but maybe only once or twice in their life.So basically we’ll go in a home on a free estimate, go in for maybe an hour and come back and have that trust to spend.
$10,000, $20,000 and expect us to execute on it. And it takes a special person to be able to do that on a one call close. So Quentin, three things of trust is a triangle. And actually Harvard, there’s a book on it. Being authentic is the top one. You got to be your real self, right? People can tell. The other thing is being empathetic. Have empathy.
Quentin (16:12)
Yes, sir.STEVEN WRIGHT (16:17)
or someone not everyone is gonna have empathy, right? And then the other thing is having knowledge. So once you have knowledge, you’re helping somebody to have your trust and being empathetic. That’s the magic to ⁓ sales and build a trust.Quentin (16:33)
I absolutely love it. Authentic empathy and knowledge. That’s the triangle to building trust, right? No, man, you’re dropping gems, man. I’m gonna tell you a book that I’ve started reading, haven’t completed it, but it’s very good. It’s a book called The Speed to Trust, which is a really, really great book. Something, if you’re an avid reader, you may like that. I listened to it on audio. It’s by Stephen M.R. Covey. And so it talks aboutSTEVEN WRIGHT (16:39)
We got it, we got it, yeah.Ha
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Yes. What about author? Yeah.
Quentin (17:02)
Yeah, you heard of that one? Yeah, the speed to trust.Yes, sir. And so you hit it. He, whenever he go into a business, that’s the first thing he’s looking for is building trust. And he wants to tell people like, what is it about me that you don’t trust? Let’s talk about it because trust, like you said, it’s the triangle, authentic empathy and knowledge. So I absolutely love it,
STEVEN WRIGHT (17:19)
Yeah. Yeah.And then Quentin, the cherry on top is people remember how you treat them. They may not remember the flooring or whatever, but they’re going to remember how you treat them, right? And that can go to customers, suppliers and all that. So it’s a life skill, right? ⁓
Quentin (17:34)
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. You’re absolutely right.No?
No, you’re absolutely right. I think Maya Angelou may have said it. And you just, I mean, I’m just pretty much saying just what you said. She said, people will hardly remember what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel. And so you are absolutely correct. Absolutely correct. So listen, I like to add this, especially when I have somebody that thinks the way you do, that sees things from your lens. Is there something to our audience, maybe a word of wisdom or it
advice or encouragement you can give our audience. know you’ve been in business for multiple years. Maybe something that can encourage them that you want to maybe give them a word of wisdom.
STEVEN WRIGHT (18:18)
Sure. ⁓ Actually, I just heard it from Charlie Kirk, which, you know, and it kind of resonated with me. This shall pass. So and then this shall pass if something’s going on that’s a struggle or challenge or whatever. So keep that in mind. But on the flip side is when we’re on that cloud on the mountain, remember this shall pass. So save your money up, be humble. Pride becomes abefore a fall, so that’s one thing. ⁓ I think that is probably good for everybody. This show passed. So cherish the moment, right? That’s the deal. And then if things are going bad, there’s a silver lining. Always look, there’s a silver lining in what you’re going through and you’re gonna learn something.
Quentin (19:01)
Yes, sir.No, Mr. Steven, I think those words translate to business, it translate personally. Nothing stays the same, it’s gonna pass. Like eventually, the storm’s gonna pass, eventually you’re gonna get to the next phase. But I love how you said also, even in a good moment, it shall pass as well. So make sure you store up, that you be a good steward of your money, a good steward of your business, a good steward of your time, because you’re right, things don’t always stay the same, that’s the ebbs and flow.
STEVEN WRIGHT (19:28)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.Quentin (19:40)
My wife has a saying, I don’t know if it’s her saying, but she said it to me, I got it from her. She said that a calm sea never makes an experienced sailor. A calm sea will not make an experienced sailor. And so you have to ride the waves. You have to experience turbulence in order to get experience. so, so yeah, so thank you for that nugget, Mr. Steve. And listen, before we wrap, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you,STEVEN WRIGHT (19:51)
Mm.Yeah.
Yep, for sure.
yeah, you’re sure.
Quentin (20:11)
Learn more about what you’re doing. What’s the best way for them to get in contact with you,STEVEN WRIGHT (20:12)
Yeah.I’ll give you one more nugget. I haven’t given the investors a nugget yet. So, ⁓ or property managers. So these days there’s new products. Vinyl plank, you heard waterproof. Then they had laminate, right? But now they have laminate that looks just like wood. It’s waterproof. Get a key, can’t even scratch it. And you can actually draw with a permanent marker.
Quentin (20:17)
Yes, sir.STEVEN WRIGHT (20:40)
put acetone on it, wipe it off, put it on fire. You still can’t tell that it’s been damaged. So rental properties, people love it. It’s called Revwood from Mohawk and it’s US made and we buy so much of it. It’s like, you know, we really treat people fair withSo ⁓ on the rental property management, look up Revwood and you know, I don’t like it because probably won’t have to replace their floors forever.
Quentin (21:10)
See ya.STEVEN WRIGHT (21:10)
But ⁓ yeah, and then on the investor side, I can really tailor a thing like, know, when I used to do a bunch of them, they’d have a gray theme with the paint. We just have flooring carpet, vinyl plate, laminar, hardwood to go with those things and make it real easy. So you could control your budget, no surprises. So we can work up programs like that too for investors. So, and the easiest way to get a hold of me is…I’m a fun guy. I love my card here too. Yeah. Yeah. I guess I’ll just say my cell phone. Is that okay? 972. So here code 972-742-0740. Text me and yeah, I’ll love to meet you and help you any way I can. We’ll learn from each other. You make more money, right?
Quentin (21:42)
Come on now. There you go. Yeah, that’s good. Yes, sir.Yeah, sorry, absolutely.
There you go. We’re better together. That’s what they say. Absolutely. So listen, Mr. Steven, man, thank you, I think, for your, for this being your first podcast. So you’re knocking off the part. I thank you so much for being here. Thank you for the nuggets that you dropped in the gyms. Just thank you for letting us peek into your experience. Thank you for your story and your perspective. This was fun, sir.
STEVEN WRIGHT (22:08)
Yes, sir.Thank you. And then I speak at lot of realtor events and motivate as well and other companies. So I’ll do that also. So if you need my help, just give me a ring, give me a text.
Quentin (22:35)
Beautiful.There you go. Absolutely. Well, there he is, y’all. Mr. Steve Wright. Thank you so much. Again, I appreciate you. And to everyone else, listen, you found the value. You know we’re going to continue to just keep bringing you exceptional people that’s exceptional at what they do. So make sure you subscribe. That way you can get that alert and you can come meet us here. So Mr. Steve, thank you again. And to everyone else, we will see you on the next time.
-
